We’re lucky enough to have 2 Labrador Retrievers in our house. I just love being a pet mom to them and our 2 kitties.

DJ, our black lab, is about to be 11 years old. Despite his 115 pounds, he’s always moving, always playing, always looking for the next ball to chase….and I’m always getting in trouble from the vet for him being 115 pounds….

…and Chase, our 80 pound yellow lab, well, we don’t know how old he is. He’s a rescue dog, and didn’t come with any papers or records to speak of. Our vet thinks he’s about the same age as DJ though. In any case, Chase has some issues. Including allergies to a variety of things. Lately they seem to be getting worse and the vet and I are wracking our brains trying to come up with ideas to help him because he doesn’t do well with medicines either. We decided that maybe we should make some natural things for him to eat. DJ could benefit from those too, and maybe drop a few pounds?

One thing Chase loves are treats. He’d live on them if we let him. I decided his treats were a good place to start to make a change to healthier, less processed foods for him. A friend passed along this recipe for us to try. It’s like Thanksgiving in a dog bone! And thankfully, Chase absolutely loves them. That’s a relief, because he’s been known to spit out many, many things that don’t meet his dining standards.

Ok, Chase is a bit of a diva.

Our vet approved all these ingredients for our dogs, but if you try these, please check with your vet first to make sure the ingredients are ok for yours.

These natural dog treats aren’t the most beautiful things in the world, but I don’t think Chase cares. I know DJ doesn’t. That dog has a stomach of steel and will eat anything. He especially loves cat food, which is a whole different blog post….but anyway….

Look at all the yummy that goes into these: A sweet potato, lean ground turkey, carrots, dried cranberries, honey, rosemary, cinnamon, a little bit of garlic and some brown rice flour. Thanksgiving in a dog bone, right?

First, cook the ground turkey until browned. Set it aside when it’s done to cool a little.

Next, peel the sweet potato (throw away the skins please, they can cause digestive problems in dogs) and dice it into 1″ pieces. Place the sweet potatoes in a medium pan of water over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and let cook for 7-9 minutes, or until tender. When they were done cooking, I put mine in a colander to drain and cool.

In the meantime, peel the carrots, chop them up and place them in a food processor. Pulse until they look even smoother than this. (I should have pulsed mine longer)

Once the potatoes are cool, put them in a large bowl and mash them up.

Add the turkey and carrots to the potatoes, and every single other ingredient in the recipe.

Mix everything up really well until a dough forms.

Press out the dough, in batches if you have to, onto a lightly floured surface until it’s 1/4 inch thick. My dough was crumbly and didn’t want to stick together very well, but that was ok. Next time I’ll use a little more of the brown rice flour. Using a cookie cutter in any shape you’d like, or a knife, cut out your cookies.

No, my little bone-shaped pieces of dough didn’t hold their shape from very well from dough mat to baking sheet, but I knew the dogs wouldn’t mind.

By the way, don’t worry about putting your treats too close together on the baking sheet,  they don’t spread out at all while baking.

Bake for 22-27 minutes until lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before feeding one to Fido. This recipe made about 5 dozen medium-sized biscuits.

These are Chase and DJ approved

Natural Organic Holiday Dog Treats Recipe

Makes about 5 dozen medium-sized doggie treats

Click here for the printer friendly PDF

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ground turkey
• 2 cups brown rice flour (available at health food stores)
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• ½ cup pureed carrots (from 2 large carrots or about 6 baby carrots)
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1” pieces.
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil, unless using a non-stick one.
2. In a small skillet, cook turkey until brown. Drain fat. Set aside to cool.
3. In the meantime, peel and dice carrots. Place in a food processor and puree. Set aside.
4. Place sweet potatoes in a medium pan of water over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Cook for 7-8 minutes or until tender. Let cool and mash in a medium bowl.
5. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until a dough forms. Place the dough on a lightly floured (with brown rice flour) and roll out or form into a circle or rectangle with a ¼ thickness. Use a cookie cutter, or a knife to cut into desired shapes. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 22-27 minutes. (They can be placed close together because they don’t grow in size when baking) Cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.